Golf club



Jul 'l0, 1934. I PETRY 1,965,857

. GOLF CLUB Filed Sept. 12, 1931 INVENTO ATTORNEY Patented July 10, 1934GOLF CLUB Herbert S. Pctry, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application September 12, 1931, Serial No. 562,469

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in golf clubs.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved golf club with aneasily flexed or whip- 5 py shaft of the character hereinafter indicatedfor use as an instruction club and so designed as to aid the user inacquiring a proper swing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a golf club for generalplay with aneasily flexed or whippy shaft so designed that when the clubis properly swung, the club-head will travel approximately along theline of flight of the ball during the period of impact.

A further object of the invention is toprovide a golf club having ashaft so designed that it may be readilybent or flexed in onedirectionwhile rigidly resisting bending in a direction at right angles thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide a golf club with a shafthaving all the advantages inherent in a readily flexed or whippy shaft,but designed to resist bending during the moment of impact, exceptsubstantially along the line of flight of the ball.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessingthe features, properties, and the relation of elements which will beexemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of theapplication of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the inventionreference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a golf club embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along the lines 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the lines 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view along the lines 4-4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged View of the club-head and the portion of the shaftimmediately adjacent thereto.

In golf instruction, and in the playing of the game itself, it isessential that the pupil or player have the feel of the club. Golfinstructors have quite generally advised their pupils to handle theclubs and particularly the wooden clubs as though the shaft had noweight or as' though the club head were a stone on the end of a string.

The pupil is told to delay the wrist action incident to striking theball until thehandshave reached almost the lowest portion of' the arc ofthe swing, when the wrists are to be uncooked and the club-head snappedthrough the ball. 50 These and similar instructions have for theirobject the perfection of a smooth golf swing which applies the maximumhitting force to the club-head at the moment of impact.

It has frequently been found that the proper Q5 swing can most readilybe acquired and the true snap most readily imparted to the club head atthe moment of impact when a shaft with "a. good deal of resiliencyor'whip is employed. Under those circumstances; the club head morenearly'70 approximates the condition of a stone on theend of a string.However, when an easily flexed or whippy shaft is used,'it is found thatunless the swing is absolutely correct, the club head tends to turn ator before the moment of impact. 15 When the club head turns, a slice orhook is imparted to the ball.

' I have found that if a shaft is employed which permits the club headto be snapped or whipped only along one properly positioned axis, theclub 80 will retain the advantages 'of feel normally possessed by clubswith whippy shafts, and will at the sametime possess the advantages ofrigidity and non-turning of the club head, which the club with theordinary whippy shaft lacks.

In the embodiment of the invention shown, 10 represents a golf clubprovided with a head 11, a shaft 12 and a grip 13. The shaft ispreferably 'so designed as to be readily bent in one direction, whileresisting bending in a direction at an angle "00 of degrees thereto.This is accomplished in the embodiment of the invention shown by cuttingaway or flattening-a portion of the shaft so that the diameter of theshaft in one plane is gradually and substantially decreased from a pointnear the grip to a point near theclub head, while the diameter of theshaft in a plane at an angle of 90 thereto, remains, except for thenormal taper of the shaft, substantially constant. The rigidity of theshaft in a plane through the long axis of a cross-section thereof willapproximate that of a circular shaft of equal diameter while a whippytendency will be imparted to the shaft in a plane passing through theshort axis of a cross-section thereof.

I have found that when a shaft so designed is mounted in a club headwith the long axis of the cross-section of the shaft in a plane passingperpendicularly through the shaft when the club head is soled on theground, the rigidity imparted I10 to the shaft by the constructiondescribed has little or no effect in preventing the club head fromturning during impact with the ball. When, however, the shaft is somounted that the long axis of the cross-section is inclined at an angleof approximately degrees to a vertical plane passing through the shaftwhen the club is soled, as shown for example in Fig. 5, the club head nolonger turns upon impact, but is snapped or driven against the ball insuch a manner that its striking surface remains in a proper positionthroughout the impact.

With the improved shaft mounted in the club head as shown in Fig. 5,that is with the long axis of the shaft rotated counter-clockwise anangle of approximately 45 degrees from a vertical plane passing throughthe shaft, the snap imparted to the club head when the shaft is properlyswung is of such a nature as to cause the club head to strike downwardlyinto the ball. This results in a substantial decrease in the number oftopped shots and is of substantial aid in securin uniformly well hitshots.

Where the club is to be used for instruction purposes, the'shaft ispreferably made excessively whippy, so that the club head will be givenan excessive snap at the moment of impact. With a club so constructed,the pupil acquires very quickly the certain feel of the club head whichis so greatly desired. Quick, jerky back swings cause the club head tosway about the shaft to the great discomfort of the pupil who quicklylearns to make the back swing slow and steady.

-I have-found that with the shaft positioned in the head as has beendescribed above, the golf club must be properly held at the top of theback swing, or. the club head will clip and sway in an awkward anduncomfortable manner. With an excessively whippy shaft positioned in theclub head as described above, the club head must be properly swungagainstthe ball, for if the pupils wrists are brought into play at tooearly a point in-the down swing, or if the snap of the wrists is delayedtoo long, an exaggerated hook or slice is the result and the pupil isimmediately aware that he has swung improperly by the action of the clubhead on the shaft.

. I have found that by swinging a club embodying my invention, a pupilacquires the proper swing and the proper wrist action in a relativelyshort time, for until he does so, the action of the club head and theshaft makes the swing noticeably uncomfortable. V Where the golf clubsare intended for use in playing the game, the shaft should be soconstructed as to render some appreciable resistance to flexing in everydirection, that is, the shaft should not be as whippy through its narrowcross section in a club designed for use on the links, as in a clubintended forpractice and instruction.

In the embodiment of the invention shown, I have illustrated at 13, aclub grip of a patented typeknown to the trade as the Progrip. I havefound that such a grip may be used in connection with my improved golfclub with highly satisfactory results, when the grip is so positionedthat the bearing surface for the left thumb, shown in Fig. 1 at 14, ispositioned parallel to the long axis of the cut-away shaft so that thedriving force imparted by the left thumb is directed at right angles tothat axis. With a Progrip in such position, the pupil or player tends tograsp the club correctly and to hold it in such a way that the long axisof the cross section of the shaft is properly positioned and the clubhead properly driven against the ball.

While I have described a shaft made of wood with portions cut away togive a whippy action to the shaft in one plane, it is to be understoodthat steel shafts may be used as well and that any device may beemployed to weaken the shaft along one plane while retaining itsrigidity in another plane.

Since certain changes may be made in the above article and differentembodiments of the invention could be made without departing from thescope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted asillustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. A golf club of the character described, having a shaft more easilybent in one plane than in any other, the shaft being so mounted in theclub head that the plane along which it may be most easily bent is at anangle of approximately 45 in a clockwise direction to a vertical planepassing through the shaft when the club head is placed normally on theground.

2. A golf club of the character described, having a shaft adapted torigidly resist bending in one plane and to bend freely in a plane atright angles thereto, the shaft being mounted in the club head in such away that its plane of greatest rigidity is at an angle of approximately45 in a counter-clockwise direction to a plane passing verticallythrough the shaft when the club head is placed normally on the ground.

3. A golf club of the character described, having a wooden shaft ofroughly elliptical cross section so mounted in the club head that thelong axis of the cross section of the shaft is at an angle ofapproximately 45 in a counter-clockwise direction to a plane passingvertically through the shaft when the club head is placed normally onthe ground.

HERBERT S. PETRY.

